Pages

Friday, May 07, 2010

A few weeks ago I recieved an invitation to attend a blogger's dinner hosted by Kitchenbelle.com and Eggland's Best Eggs at Stella in the South End. Now, I don't know really anything about eggs other than I like them scambled with goat cheese and scallions. And here is another thing. I actually buy my eggs in a carton. Eggbeaters in the house! So the chance to learn more about Eggland's Best Eggs, eat some delicious food, sip a cocktail or two, and mingle with other Boston area bloggers appealed to me!

I met lady friend Peter a bit earlier at the bar for a pre-dinner cocktail (a Stella 75 for me and a Bellini for him). I had never been to Stella before but I was struck by all of the crisp, pristine whiteness and the niceness of the staff. Not to mention the scads of street parking. I made a promise to myself to come back soon for dinner.

As the sixth hour struck, we and the other local foodie bloggers attending the event filed into the swank private room in the back. As we sipped mimosas and bloody maries, everyone mingled and got to know each other. I greeted the lovely Mary Kate of Kitchenbelle.com (whom I also went to high school with) and she ensured us we were in for a real treat.

The perfect bloody mary I had led me to believe she was right.

The passed appetizer was deviled eggs and they were DIVINE. Ibegan to realize that maybe by getting my eggs out of a cardboard carton I was missing out on something delicious.

Then Lainie, EB's marketing assistant, came up to tell us all about their marketing efforts, they are all over facebook and twitter and constantly offering contests. Their website is updated all the time with interesting articles, stories from bloggers, and more contests.

Then came the main courses of the night.

Hello Omelet with duck, goat cheese and mushrooms. And hello you to you too insanely decadent Carbonara. The omelet was light and fluffy and incredibly tasty. The carbonara was rich and ectstasy inducing. Sigh. Neither would have been half as tasty made with what I had been using at home. Wow.

Then Roger, the marketing manager for Eggland's Best, stood up and sold us even more on the brand. As I mentioned before I had been content thus far to buy my eggs shell-less in a carton and never new what I was missing. But the taste and the obvious quality of the Eggland's Best Eggs really made an impression on me. Not to mention Roger's enthusiasm and the info he gave us!

o 25% less saturated fat per eggo 10 times more vitamin E (“excellent source” category) per eggo 2.5 times more iodine per eggo 115 mg of omega-3 fatty acids per eggo 200 mcg of lutein per eggo 20% of the Required Daily Value for vitamins D and B 12 and selenium per eggo 10% of the Daily Value for vitamin A, riboflavin and folate per egg

Fun fact, Another good source of lutein? Marigolds!

We also learned that while some egg companies feed their hens leftover fat/grease from fast food restaurants (sick!), EB's hens are fed an all vegetarian diet comprised of healthy grains, canola oil, rice bran, sea kelp, alfalfa and Vitamin E. That is some healthy-@ss chickens if you ask me.

We were then treated to dessert ( a decadent chocolate tort) which I confess I barely touched since I was stuffed from that uh-mazing omelet and pasta course. My mind still reels with joy,when I think about it.

We then heard from Bart, the Director of Quality for Eggland's Best and got even more down to the nitty gritty.

Some more fun facts from Bart.

- Regulatory guidelines imposed by the USDA for generic eggs allow storage for up to 21 days before packing. Eggland’s Best imposes a maximum pre-storage period of 7 days. Reduced storage time helps to preserve the safety, quality and flavor of the product.

- The Eggland’s Best Quality Assurance Laboratory conducts over 45,000 individual analyses and quality evaluations each year. The results are subject to routine validation using reference laboratories

So you can see they mean business about providing a great product - and it's always inspiring to see people so enthusiastic about what they do. Not to mention getting a chance to sample their product in so many different dishes really showed off it's superior taste and made fans of all of us!

We each left the party with a goody bag filled with coupons, a cookbook, a spatula, an umbrella as well as an adorbable stuffed Egg (which i confess I gave to Bodhi and he promptly ripped the poor thing's eyes out - so he is clearly a fan as well!). I have already used Eggland's Best Eggs, hardboiled, in a pasta salad I made this weekend and it earned rave reviews. I can't wait to try them in even more recipes/dishes.

It is great that they feed their chickens a healthier diet but how are they kept? Happy chickens make happy, healthier eggs. I started buying free range and now diretcly from a farm eggs and they are the best I have ever tasted. Better for the chickens, better quality eggs and better tasting, you can't go wrong.

EB offers cage free and organic eggs as well as the ones I mentioned in my blog - you can read more here

http://www.egglandsbest.com/egglands-eggs/faq/hen-treatment.aspx

however we learned at the dinner that free range isn't always the best idea for hens. As they "peck" each other to establish social order and since the social order is always changing in a free range situation, a lot of hens get injured/die. Also when hens get frightened the flock into a huge pile as a defense mechanism and the ones on the bottom can be smothered. It was an interesting way of looking at it!